REYNOLDS IS SOCKED WITH NEW INDICTMENTS

Maurice Possley, Tribune Staff WriterCHICAGO TRIBUNE

The legal plight of U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds took a turn for the worse Wednesday in the form of new charges alleging he paid off a witness and created false evidence to sabotage the pending sexual assault case against him.

Cook County prosecutors also said they would ask Circuit Judge Fred Suria Jr. on Friday to order Reynolds jailed pending his July 5 trial on the sex charges unless the congressman posts a $10,000 cash bond. He is currently free on a $100,000 signature bond.

The financially strapped Reynolds was not in court Wednesday when Suria unsealed the new indictments charging him with two counts of witness tampering and three counts of obstruction of justice.

Suria ordered Reynolds' attorney, Sam Adam, to ensure Reynolds was in court on Friday to be arraigned on the new charges.

In a statement faxed to media outlets later Wednesday from his Chicago office, Reynolds steadfastly maintained his innocence.

"I have done nothing illegal," the statement said. "Jack O'Malley (Cook County's state's attorney) and his people can indict me 20 more times, but they will never get me to grovel or crawl for them. I absolutely refuse to bow down to Jack O'Malley and his politically reckless persecution."

Reynolds, 46, now is facing 21 separate counts alleging wrongdoing. In an earlier indictment, he was charged with seven counts of aggravated sexual abuse, three counts of sexual assault, two counts of child pornography and four counts of obstructing justice.

First Assistant State's Atty. Andrea Zopp said the latest indictments allege that Reynolds paid $400 to a young woman, and offered her an additional $10,000, to recant her claim that they had sex when she was a teenager. Reynolds is also accused of ordering an aide in his Washington office to type false affidavits in an effort to prevent prosecutors from using his sexually explicit telephone conversations with the main witness against him.

Zopp said Wednesday that she and co-prosecutor Colleen Hyland intend to offer evidence of the obstruction of justice and witness tampering charges at Reynolds' trial on the sex charges in July, in addition to prosecuting the additional charges in a separate trial.

Reynolds, a second-term congressman, was first indicted last August on charges of having sex with a 16-year-old campaign worker, Beverly Heard.

Heard, now 19, has since recanted her claim that she and Reynolds had sex as often as twice a week in his South Side office, in a south suburban apartment and in a motel in Harvey.

A second young woman came forward to say that she had sex with Reynolds as a teenager, but she recanted a day after she talked to prosecutors. Later, she said her recantation came at the urging of Reynolds and that he offered her $10,000 to say she never had sex with him.

The new indictments allege that Reynolds paid her $400.

Still under investigation, according to Zopp, are allegations that Reynolds funneled $3,000 through Heard's former lawyer, Reginald Turner, in a scheme to file false affidavits.

The affidavits, allegedly signed by Heard and a friend, state that law enforcement authorities coerced her consent to allow authorities to tape record telephone calls with Reynolds.

According to prosecution documents filed in court, on one call, Reynolds discussed in graphic detail specific sex acts with Heard and another woman, and requested Heard wear a certain color of underclothing when they met for their next sexual encounter.

Suria previously hinted that he was not inclined to alter Reynolds' bond when prosecutors asserted in court that the congressman had engaged in illegal tactics to sabotage the case against him.

However, converting those allegations to criminal charges strengthens the state's argument.

Zopp said she would ask Suria to alter Reynolds' $100,000 bond to require him to post $10,000 in cash. "We feel the current bond is inappropriate, and he committed these crimes while out on bond," she said in an impromptu news conference in the lobby of the Criminal Courts Building, 2600 S. California Ave.

Coming up with $10,000 could be difficult for Reynolds, who, along with his wife, Marisol, is being pursued by creditors for $145,000 in unpaid loans.

Reynolds is under federal investigation for bank fraud for allegedly lying about his finances to obtain loans. His campaign finances are under federal review as well.

Last month, attorneys for sports and real-estate magnate Jerry Reinsdorf said Reinsdorf had helped arrange a $30,000 loan to help cover the congressman's legal expenses.

Asked why the state chose to obtain additional indictments after revealing the allegations last month in court, Zopp replied, "We had the evidence and we thought it was appropriate."

Zopp previously disclosed that Stephen Perencevich, the legislative director of Reynolds' Washington office who has since resigned, had detailed how Reynolds ordered him to type up the affidavits to be usd in Reynolds' sexual assault case and wrote a $2,100 check that was funneled to Turner.

Perencevich came to prosecutors after the cash-strapped Reynolds bounced several checks intended to repay the $2,100 and did not pay Perencevich for more than $500 in phone calls that Reynolds made on Perencevich's telephone credit card.

The calls, made over a several week period earlier this year, included 100 calls to Turner and 65 calls to the woman who prosecutors say was offered the $10,000.